City of Howls
is the first episode of Wolf's Rain. Aired on April 24th, 2004 as "City of Howls" in the United States. Summary A white wolf is shown lying in the snow, presumed to be wounded and/or exhausted. Kiba, as narrator, reveals to us his search for "Paradise". Elsewhere is a group of bandits led by Tsume was raiding a freight train for supplies. Despite the loss of a member or two through accident or other loss, the mission is considered a success. In another scene, Quent Yaiden walked into a bar, leaving Blue outside. During his chat with the bartender, we are told that wolves were presumed to be extinct for 200 years during that time. It also seemed that Quent had some deep-set grudge against wolves and has sworn to hunt them down at all costs. In the morning, some of Tsume's men gathered around a tree hole, where a wounded white wolf rests. The men thought it is dead though when they tried to move it after being ordered by Tsume, Kiba attacks and kills two men. When Kiba was about to attack a young boy of the gang, named Gehl, Tsume defended the boy before he raced off, the wolf following behind him. Tsume and Kiba meet face to face on a rooftop. We were shown here that Tsume is actually a wolf who has adapted in human form to survive in the city. The two wolves argue about what a human form means to them then continue their fight, in wolf form. Gehl, who happened to have followed the two, chased off Kiba after first he seeing Tsume in wolf form, shaking his head and once again seeing Tsume in human form again. He doesn't think anything of it, evidently. Kiba wandered in the streets and was spotted and shot by Quent after being rushed by Blue. Kiba was carried off and locked in a cage in a building by the authorities. Quent was questioned by authorities for his reason of the shooting. From this we learned Quent is the man's name. He believed that wolves have not gone extinct. Somewhere in a research lab in the same building Kiba is being kept a woman named Cheza was shown immersed in some sort of liquid. It seemed she was the subject of research. According to the researchers, Cheza showed response to wolf's blood, and also has the name Flower Maiden. We are also introduced to Cher Degré, the lead scientist of the Cheza project. Back at the cage, a new character came by and talked to the Kiba. He is momentarily interrupted by Cher and Hubb Lebowski who asks what he is doing there and the new character explains that he was simply looking for cleaning supplies. Once he leaves, Cher and Hubb talk about how Kiba could be a wolf considering Cheza reacted to his appearance and his blood was involved. Hubb exclaims that she is the reason Cher and him got divorced and she denies. Hubb sneezes and reveals an allergy to dogs. They leave talking about about the possibility of their relationship being fated to fail. The new character returns and stoops down before Kiba again. He introduced himself as Hige, and he is also a wolf. Kiba questions why he takes the form of a human. Hige explains that if he continues to wander around in this form, he'll be killed and/or brought back into the building for a cage. Kiba gets angered about this and asks why he would lower himself to the human's level and asks if he has abandoned his pride as a wolf. Hige laughs and says, "You're a strange one, alright. But having pride doesn't count for much if you're dead, you know?"'' Kiba told him about the "Paradise" he was seeking. Later, we were shown that the white wolf had transformed itself into human form, and escaped out of the building with Hige. Elsewhere, Tsume's gang planned and is in the process of carrying out another raid. While fleeing, Gehl slips when a bullet hits the pipe by his foot and dropped the supplies, holding onto a breaking pipe to keep up. He calls for Tsume. Tsume runs back and tries to pull Gehl up with his arm, but by doing this he accidentally slips into his wolf form and bites into Gehl's shoulder. Gehl screams and falls to his death when he felt the wolf's bite rather than a grab. Hige decided to join Kiba on his search for "Paradise". At the end Kiba, in his human form, introduced himself to Hige as Kiba. Quotes * '''Kiba:' They say there's no such place as Paradise. Even if you search to the ends of the Earth there's nothing there. No matter how far you walk it's always the same road. It just goes on and on. But in spite of that, why am I so driven to find it?... A voice calls to me. It says, search for Paradise. * Kiba: So why'd you follow me? * Hige: I dunno, it smelled like something interesting was gonna happen so I just followed my nose...besides, you seem kinda interesting. * Hige: You're a strange one, alright. But having your pride doesn't count for much if your dead, you know? Trivia *Hige is portrayed as having the keenest sense of smell out of the 4 main wolves - he mentions this fact while talking to Kiba, and he complains vehemently about being down in the sewers. *A French, female version of "Heaven's not Enough" is heard in the episode, but was never released. Category:Episode